Croissants
by cidlo
Summary: Marinette notices Adrien looking thin (Gabriel has him on a strict diet for an important show/photoshoot) and leaves croissants in his locker every morning. Made for the 2019 Miraculous Ladybug Holidays Fanfiction Exchange.


This story was written for the Miraculous Ladybug Holidays Fanfiction Exchange for u/multifanfictual. Hohoho. God, my title is just so incredibly creative. :^)

-x-

"Chat."

_"Oh my god, sooo good," _Chat Noir moaned, eyes closed in bliss. He leaned back against the metal beams of the Eiffel Tower. As Ladybug watched, he dove back in the basket between them for another buttery roll, licking his lips and then his gloved fingers. "Oh yes, oooh yes. I need more…"

_"__Chat…"_ Ladybug gritted out in part-exasperation, part-amusement. The black-clad superhero's rather… enthusiastic appraisal of the bakery's goods had attracted some attention from the citizens below. Her partner let out another sinful groan. Paris didn't need to be able to hear them to see those expressions.

"_Chat Noir!" _she admonished him, fighting down the heat creeping up her neck.

Said superhero looked at her with a mouthful of chocolate croissant and a hand holding a strawberry macaroon. "Yesh milady?" he asked sweetly. Ladybug rolled her eyes. Paris may have this charming, innocent image of Chat Noir, but she knew her partner better. He was all of that, yes, but he was also a teenage boy.

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, implying that she would take away his supply of Dupain-Cheng pastries. It was customary for her to bring some snacks from her parents' bakery to enjoy after their weekly patrols, but today Chat was like a wild animal at the haul. Cat-theme or not, that didn't excuse the boy from poor manners.

Chat Noir swallowed and gave her an impish smile. He raised a clawed hand over his heart. "_Meow-ch_, milady. I didn't mean to make you _croissant_ with me. I was just showing my _fillings_ of appreciation for—oh! Ah! Hey!" When the spotted heroine began to flick his sensitive cat ears, he raised his arms to cover them and yelped, "Okay, fine! I'll stop! I surrender! _Je me rends!"_

"Good kitty," she murmured, reaching over to gently scratch under his chin. He closed his eyes and purred at her touch.

"Sorry, milady. Guess I got carried away," Chat Noir said. He was eating his third croissant now, slowly this time. "I haven't had much to eat all week and having all this delicious food is like being in heaven. You even got them from the best bakery in Paris. Or anywhere. How was I supposed to resist? Mm… these croissants are great." He finished his bread and was reaching for another before he stopped himself.

Ladybug frowned. "You're not eating enough? Did something happen?" she asked, instantly worried for her partner's health. She had never thought Chat Noir's civilian life to be a lacking one.

"Oh. Haha… no, nothing like that," Chat cut in, reading her mind. "Just that I've… got more on my plate lately, metaphorically speaking. My f—parents don't know about my being a superhero and it would be suspicious to eat more like this. It's really not too bad."

The girl nodded in understanding. Her duties as Ladybug demanded more out of her and as Marinette, it had been a little hard to hide her growing appetite from her parents. Still, it wasn't too difficult. She was lucky that they owned a bakery and encouraged her to share the day's leftovers with her friends. Sneaking food for Tikki and herself was a piece of cake. It must be a lot harder for Chat Noir, whoever he was under that mask. Come to think of it, he _was_ looking rather thin. Smiling sadly, she pushed her croissant over to the boy.

"Silly kitty. I'll bring extra next time."

-x-

That was yesterday. Today found her stalking around the locker room early in the morning with a paper bag of two Dupain-Cheng Bakery butter croissants. She didn't know what Adrien liked, so she got him the most popular item on the menu.

_First Chat Noir and now Adrien! Both of them really need to take better care of themselves!_

At least in Adrien's case, she knew the cause of his sudden, unhealthy thinness. Being a great admirer of the fashion world and Gabriel, Marinette knew the importance of a model's looks and diet. Still, her admiration and desire to see her friend happy and healthy warred with each other until the latter won. Adrien was too thin and always hungry. And if she couldn't help Chat, she could do this for Adrien.

_Adrien… Adrien… aha!_

"This is it Tikki. Adrien's locker!"

From the small, pink bag, Tikki observed her holder with kind, unjudging eyes. She was already used to the teenager's antics by now. As Marinette put in the locker combination that she knew by heart—_8-4-2-9, and she only just happened to see it that one time, honest! —_Tikki gently offered her encouragement.

"Good job, Marinette. I'm sure he'll love them," she whispered. "Thanks, Tikki, I hope so too," Marinette replied, shooting the kwami a grateful smile. "Now I just need to leave before—" She froze when she heard voices coming from the hallway. Male voices. Familiar voices. From the sound of it, they were dangerously close to the locker room! There wasn't enough time for her to leave the locker room undetected. Marinette's thoughts went wild.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no, OH NO! What if he sees his locker open and I'm standing there? He would know I broke into his locker! He'd hate me forever and we'd never date, get married and have two adorable kids and a hamster named—_

Tikki flew down and pressed her tiny hands to Marinette's mouth, stifling the girl's horrified shriek. "Marinette, you have to hide! Quickly!" Tikki cried out, tugging the girl out of her shock. They couldn't be seen here! Thinking fast, Marinette pointed to a nearby locker. The kwami phased into the lock, unlocked it, and the two dove inside the locker just as two students entered the locker room.

"_Dude_," Nino could be heard saying, "you seriously gotta eat something. What am I gonna do without my best bud?"

A familiar chuckle followed, and Marinette's blood went cold. _Chat Noir? What's that alley cat doing here? _she internally screeched. _And why is Nino calling him his best friend? _In the slanted light of the locker interior, she locked eyes with her kwami and was gratified to see a similarly shocked expression. Marinette missed the way Tikki's face shifted into one of resigned amusement the second she turned away.

The mischievous laugh faded into a resigned, but slightly hopeful tone. "Well," came the voice of Adrien Agreste, and Marinette's heartbeat calmed before spiking fast again, "it's only for a little bit and then I can go back to my old diet. The shoot is really important to my father, so if it does really well, maybe he will let me eat out with you guys after." The last sentence sounded like a question. And closer to Marinette's position than she would have liked.

_Adrien? Chat Noir? Pfft, what was I thinking? That alley cat inhales every pastry he can get. He wouldn't know a diet if it hit him over the head. There's no way that Chat Noir could be dear, sweet Adrien… _Her heart panged with sorrow for the practically starved model.

Nino sighed and just let out another, "Dude…"

"I'll be fine, Nino. Come on, let's just get to class." There was a metal click as the model opened his locker. Marinette strained against the locker door for a better look and held her breath for his reaction. She could only make out the upper back of Adrien's blonde head as he found her surprise.

There was a rustling of paper as the bag was opened. "Huh? What's this? Croissants?" Adrian asked, confused. Nino leaned over his shoulder and let out a low laugh.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks you need to eat more, buddy. Go on," he said gleefully, slapping Adrien's back. Adrien snorted, but he closed his locker and obediently took a large bite. He froze, and Nino continued cheekily, "No note though. Any idea who it's from? Someone from our class, maybe?"

If Marinette wasn't inside the locker or experiencing the closest thing you could get to a heart attack without actually having one, she would have throttled the aspiring DJ for his cheekiness. Thankfully—or maybe not so thankfully—Adrien remained as oblivious to her feelings for him as always. Speaking of the model, he still hadn't moved from his statue-like pose of eating that croissant.

"Uh, dude?"

Marinette couldn't see Adrien's expression, but he sounded a bit dazed as he blinked and responded, "Oh. Uh. No. No idea. No, it couldn't be… no, I don't think so. It's good though. Really good." He took another bite and seemed to moan a bit at how good it was. Marinette's heart leapt for joy.

_He likes it! Yes!_

Nino laughs again and shakes his head. To Marinette's returning horror, her classmate began fiddling with the lock to her hiding spot. "Sure, dude. Man, I wish someone would leave a surprise in my locker too—" The door swung open and Nino's jaw dropped.

Marinette gave him a stiff, nervous smile that looked like a grimace. She raised a hand to wave, or to show him she meant no harm. Nino looked at her, then at Adrien. He looked Adrien, then back to her. He looked like he wanted to facepalm.

"You all done, Nino?" Adrien asked. He walked over to Nino's locker, but Nino quickly threw his jacket over Marinette, covering her head and torso.

Nino rubbed the back of his neck nervously. His eyes darted between Marinette and his best friend. "Actually, uh, I left something in my locker. A… notebook. Yeah. It's kind of messy, so I'll be a while in finding it. You go on without me, bud."

"Oh, sure buddy. See you in class then. Don't be late!" Adrien said cheerfully. He didn't seem to notice how flimsy the excuse was, nor the pair of pink-clad legs just casually standing around in his best friend's locker. The door clicked shut behind him. Nino waited until his footsteps faded to nothing before opening his locker again.

"I don't even want to know," Nino sighed, offering her a hand. Marinette wanted to die on the spot.

Any embarrassment from her almost getting caught was worth it, however, at the sight of Adrien contentedly munching on the last of the second croissant, eyes closed in bliss and lips arranged in a sweet, perfect smile.

-x-

The rest of the week saw the two of them fall into a routine.

Every morning, Marinette would sneak into the locker room and deposit another paper bag of fresh croissants. Adrien would look around, smile to himself, and dutifully eat one of them for breakfast. The other one was saved for lunch, where Alya and Nino shot knowing glances at a red-faced Marinette as he ate.

Slowly but surely, Adrien began to look a little healthier, his cheeks rosier and not as sallow looking as before. His mood had greatly improved too, even if he was a little distracted. He would always be caught staring at the paper bags, the croissant, or even out the window and always he would have to be dragged back to the present by his friends. It wasn't perfect. Adrien couldn't eat what he wanted to at home still, and he was still oblivious to her feelings, but it was enough. Marinette was happy with it.

Which was why she was struck dumbfounded at the small note taped to the inside of Adrien's locker the week following his photoshoot. It read:

_For someone who wanted to keep their superhero lives and civilian lives separate, you really surprised me this week. I don't know how you knew about me, or the photoshoot, but thanks for this week, Bugaboo. See you on patrol later. 3_

She blinked once. Twice. Three times. Tikki tugged at her hair and called her name to no response. _Adrien is Chat Noir, _she thought, numb. She let out a long sigh, resolving to deal with this later. Later, when… everything made sense and they were both superheroes in too-tight costumes running around the rooftops of Paris. Yeah.

Still, she couldn't resist taking one of his pens—_Adrien's pen! No, Chat Noir's pen—_and writing a small response of her own. She rolled her eyes at the irony of it, but smiled because out of everyone, it had to be him.

_Silly kitty. I'm still bringing extra._


End file.
